Year Of The Flood
"The Year of the Flood" is an infamous title given to Week 1 at Camp Horseshoe in 2006. That summer Paoli 1 was under the leadership of SPL Matt Kravitz and experienced dreadful weather throughout the week down at camp. Every single day there was a near constant torrential downpour of rain, with various breaks during each day. All the campsites were flooded and mud piled into everyone's clothes and belongings. Lisle, being at the very bottom of camp, received heavy runoff, turning the typically dry Stockade Trail entering Lisle into a ragging river that created numerous other waterways through the center of camp. Adults and senior scouts were hard at work building check dams all across the Stockade Trail down from Lenni Lenape campsite to try and divert the deluge. The Hard Cover Siren sounded frequently throughout the week as heavy rains pounded the entire camp. Luckily, the troop had its own hard cover pavilions to sleep under but unlucky troops had to move from their camps to find hardcover often in the middle of the night. Fortunately things began to clear up by the end of the week and the troops were able to march at Retreat and have an eventful Paul Bunyan Field Day on Saturday. To commemorate the remarkable and memorable week, a special patch was produced in place of the Polar Bear patch since no one was able to participate in the Polar Bear Swim throughout the week. The commemorative patch depicts a large tidal wave. Alterations to Camp Due to the enormous amount of rainfall throughout the week, there were significant changes to the Horseshoe Schedule and activities. Sunday Night Campfire - 'The campfire was held indoors. There was no fire, but the Camp Staff performed their skits in the Handicraft building. 'Retreat - Some evenings the rain made the Parade Field unmarchable, thus retreat was cancelled and scouts just wore their uniforms to dinner. Merit Badges - Some merit badges, such as swimming, were unable to be taught because the pool was unusable. Therefore the Assistant Scoutmaster in Camp, Mr. Kiniry, taught Fingerprinting merit badge to compensate for the first year scouts unable to take swimming. Polar Bear - Once again, since the pool was green and overflowing, scouts that year were not able to complete the polar bear swim. 'Camp Games - '''Some of them were cancelled due to the extreme weather while others were hosted indoors. Stories/Memories *"You boys will remember this week for the rest of your lives. And think about it, you will be able to tell the scouts in the future 'You think this is bad? Well let me tell you about MY first year at Horseshoe''" -Mr. Kiniry *The troop in Octoraro Campsite had to be moved because the water from the Octoraro flooded their campsite. *Matt Kravitz , to raise morale, hosted a troop water fight, thus making him the one that started the annual tradition at Horseshoe. **''"I remember the water fight, I barely got hit by the water balloons and oranges, but I was still soaked because of the rain, everyone was soaked no matter what." -''Matt Dong, 1st Year Scout **''"I don't know why I even bothered putting on my rain pants and jacket but I certainly got hit by an orange. I was manning the Indian Pump and had just chased some scouts away from the fire circle. When climbing the rise back up to the staff pavilion I took an orange right to my tailbone. It was fired from my Staff Patrol allies who had just set up the three-man launcher in the fire circle. It's important to note that just two weeks earlier I had major surgery right where I was hit and had just had the stitches removed before going to camp. Needless to say I went down and then the Indian Pump went down with me. Luckily I got up before rolling all the way down into the stream and continued to fight the good fight against the younger scouts.'' -Mike Kiniry, ASPL *''"Showers... that year had interesting showers. I remember running through torrential rain and six inch deep water to get to the shower house. On the way back we had to run through the same thing, and I actually fell into a nearly waist deep hole of muddy water on the trail past Lenni Lenape. I don't know why we even bothered trying to shower. Others simply stepped out from their pavilions with a bar of soap and showered directly in the rain."''-Mike Kiniry, ASPL Category:Horseshoe Category:Paoli 1 History